Keeping It Local: A Suffolk Story

The Food Programme

BBC

Arts, Food

4.4 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 31 October 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

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Summary

It's twenty years since the Aldeburgh Food Festival began. Sheila Dillon examines its impact in this small Suffolk seaside town where food producers work together to forge strong local supply chains. She speaks to the festival's co-founder Lady Caroline Cranbrook who has been a passionate advocate of Suffolk's rich food ecosystem. She goes on a shopping trip with local restaurateur and hotelier George Pell, a self-styled "blow-in" from London. They visit a fishing family, a butcher and a farmer supporting a start-up serving crullers in a town where collaboration is king.

Produced in Bristol for BBC Audio by Robin Markwell

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.
0:07.3	Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron.
0:10.5	Evil genius.
0:11.6	He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it.
0:15.5	That's like hiding at your own funeral.
0:17.1	Yeah, a bit great gig.
0:18.6	I'm Russell Kane.
0:19.6	Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps it. It's a long time ago, right? It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream. Listen to Evil Genius on BBC Sounds.
0:40.5	Hello and welcome to the food programme.
0:41.6	I'm Sheila Dillon,
0:43.2	and in this edition,
0:45.7	we're talking food festival jollity that's got a bit more bottom to it than you might expect.
0:51.5	A crisp autumn day at the Aldborough Food and Drink Festival in Suffolk.
0:57.1	There's a buzz, people thrilling over food bites, talking to producers at the many stands,
1:03.3	cooking demos and master classes, the food festival experience.
1:08.6	But the fact is, Oldbra, is not your average food festival. It's not just food as
1:14.5	delicious entertainment. It came into being 20 years ago, set up by two local landowners, farmers,
1:21.9	campaigners and investors in food and farming. They understood what too many politicians and policymakers still don't get.
1:30.3	The good farming and good food sold in the area where it's produced are keys to economic success
1:37.3	that in turn create jobs, support national food security, public health, and a strong sense of community.
1:45.6	It stands for much more than just being a food festival.
1:48.2	It makes you think about appreciating and supporting food which comes locally.
	...

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